The Long Way Around
by Gaelcelt
Summary: ABC's Brothers & Sisters. KevinScotty. A while after their final arguement, Kevin and Scotty reconcile.


I own none of these characters. I just wanted to make that clear. 

_Brothers & Sisters_. Kevin/Scotty; I adore this pairing! I just cannot bear that they have separated. They are adorable together… they were the reason that I started watching the show in the first place.

I'm hoping for constructive criticism.

Scotty, after avoiding Kevin for a while, begins coming around again.

The Long Way Around

"Hello, Kevin."

That warm voice that Kevin Walker had not heard in sixteen months made him weak at the knees. Scotty! All of the memories came rushing back to him, bittersweet. He felt delightfully warm and yet he also trembled nervously. How could he have been so stupid as to botch a perfectly good chance to be with somebody?

"Hi Scotty… I was wondering how you have been." Kevin's voice trembled as he spoke into the telephone's mouthpiece.

"I'm doing well. How is the situation with you and the family business?"

A rueful smile crossed Kevin's face. "It's crazy. It turns out that Holly had a daughter by dad in the late '70s. Rebecca's her name." He heard Scotty chuckle with disbelief.

"I'm surprised and yet I'm not. How did you come to that conclusion?"

Where could he even begin? "It's so complicated. Sarah found out when trying to access the stock that has been missing from the company. Among other things, the password includes the first initials of the family… that's how she found out."

"I'll be up-front about this, Kevin: I feel honored that you feel safe telling me about the password," Scotty said earnestly, "We haven't seen or spoken to each other in so long..."

"Thanks, I'm glad to hear you say that, hon." Kevin said, blushing and trembling a bit as he listened to his ex-boyfriend.

"I'll be up-front about something too, Scotty," Kevin added, "I still think of you as a part of my life..." he sighed wistfully.

"Holly's been working along with us, too, as if we didn't have enough drama already," Kevin added, rolling his eyes.

Scotty chuckled, "God, I can't begin to imagine how that is-! Working with your father's mistress, oy-!"

Kevin smiled at the sound of the laughter at the other end.

"I still think of you, Scotty. I just can't help thinking…" His throat was dry, tense. How would Scotty take it?

"I think about you, too," came the voice on the other end, "I felt like shit after the last time that we saw each other."

"I know that you did. I never meant to hurt you, Scotty. I was…" He sighed wearily.

"Well…?" Scotty said with something of a bite.

"I thinking of the debt, all of our crises, about our time together..."

"And your affair with the supposedly straight actor?" Scotty added sourly.

Kevin winced at the memory, "Yes, of that, also... honestly, I can't even remember why I even started seeing Chad..."

"Why did you, then?"

"I was lonely, Scotty. It was nothing against you. If anything, it was a crush... and after he broke up with his girlfriend, she told me that he was trying to get close to me so that we'd have an affair and then he'd leave and do the same thing to someone else."

"Did she?" Scotty was bemused by this, "You actually fell for a wanderer?"

"I did... I broke things off with him that same day... it still doesn't excuse it though, does it?"

He heard a sigh at the other end.

"I understand that you're still angry. You have every right to be... I wish that I had taken the time to think of your feelings and I had no right to treat you like I did."

"I understand that…"

Kevin's blue eyes glazed somewhat. He had tried to shut out his feelings of pain and regret, and he had succeeded, but now his ability to push it back was weakening. "You didn't deserve to be treated so badly and if there is anything that I can do to make things up with you, I am willing to do it."

"Kevin, I…"

"Scotty, I am being rather brash, but I miss you. I truly wish that I could patch thing up between us."

There was a pause, and then "I'm still angry, Kevin, for all that happened between us... but I'm willing to give it another try Kevin … honestly, I miss you too."

Kevin's heart fluttered. Did this mean that they could move towards reconciliation?

"But," Scotty continued, "I don't want to be talked down to, treated like one of the hired help, cheated on, or anything else."

"I know that you don't. It was never my intent to do that… my family is like that; we go off on tangents, our tempers go off, we do stupid things. I want to patch things up between us. I'll do whatever is necessary; I just don't want to lose you."

Kevin felt pent-up tears begin to trickle from his eyes, but he kept his voice as calm as possible.

"And I want you to know, Scotty, that you are one of the sweetest things that I have ever encountered in my life. I still think of you as the perfect lover for me..." he was afraid that it would backfire, but he kept going, "Some man out there, if not me, will be incredibly lucky to have you."

"I would like another try, Kevin. It will take me a while to recover from last time, but I'd like very much to share my life with you. If you wouldn't mind, may I get back to you in a few minutes? I'm on the road."

"Sure," Kevin said, a bit reluctantly. Yet he felt a surge of hope as he hung the phone up. There was a possibility of reconciliation, but he was so anxious. Would it be possible? What if it didn't work?

The telephone rang and he eagerly picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hi Kev, it's Sarah." His sister's voice came from the other end.

"Hi Sar', what's going on?" He sighed with a hint of disappointment.

"What's wrong? You sound depressed to hear from me." her voice sharpened a bit.

"I'm sorry about that- I just got off of the phone with Scotty and things are starting to look better for us."

"Well, I'm glad to hear about that, but why are you dep-?"

"It's nothing against you, if that's what you're wondering. He said that he'd call be again in a few minutes and I'm expecting to hear from him sometime soon."

"I see," she said succinctly.

"Anyway, what's the story?" Kevin went on, trying to change the subject.

"Holly has just insisted that the company invest in a fruit orchard in Florida."

Kevin rolled his eyes "Oh great, here we go again!"

"Sometimes, I wish that she'd be swept back under the rug, out of our lives... what are we going to do about her?"

"I don't know. I'm not sure what to do about her."

"How are you and Joe?"

She sighed, "I'm glad to say that we've improved, but we still have disagreements. I'm still not sure to trust him around Vanessa."

They sighed in unison. The melodrama of their lives broke their nerves often times, but what could they do?

"Anyway, Sarah, I'm-." he said in haste.

"Sure, I'll let you go. I just wanted to warn you."

"Thanks, Sarah. Bye."

Kevin replaced the receiver and waited anxiously. Was the tide turning in his favor? Could he have another chance at love?

_"Please, let it be!"_ he thought, _"I have to patch things up with Scotty...! I like him more than anyone else that I've had before and what happened? I ended up treating like a servant, talking down to him, and even made him jealous!"_

He watched the receiver with intense anticipation, not daring to make a sound. What if Scotty wouldn't return the call?

_"Why do I have this sort of luck with love?"_ he wondered morosely, _"It seems that each time that I think that I've found love, something happens to cause it all to fall apart again and I'll find himself at home by myself or at mom's house for dinner, feeling envious of Sarah and Tommy, feeling miserable because I haven't..."_

A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.

Frustrated, he rushed to the door, hoping to turn away whoever was there as quickly as possible.

_"Perfect timing!"_ he thought poisonously, _"Always when it's inconvenient! What do they want-?!"_

He flung the door open, finding himself face-to-face with Scotty.

"Hello, Kevin." The taller man said calmly.

"Hi Scotty-!" His frustration quickly replaced by surprise, relief, and a touch of shyness, Kevin's voice trembled, "I wasn't expecting you to come over-!"

"I wanted to," Scotty's brow furrowed slightly, "Am I not welcome?"

"Of course you're welcome-!" Kevin gasped, overcome by emotion. "Won't you come in…?"

Accepting the offer, Scotty entered the apartment and sat down at the couch with Kevin. A moment of silence passed.

His Adam's apple trembling, Kevin decided to speak up. "Scotty, I…"

He was interrupted in mid-sentence by Scotty's lips brushing against his own.

Kevin's eyes opened wide in surprise for a moment, but he quickly relaxed and surrendered himself to the kiss.

They gazed into each other's eyes after they broke the kiss. Kevin ran his fingers through Scotty's chocolate-brown hair, savoring the silken softness that had grown back since their last meeting, his arms slowly wrapping around his lover; Scotty nearly purred at the caresses.

"I missed you, sweetie" Kevin murmured into Scotty's ear, melting at the contact for which he had yearned for so long.

"I missed you too, babe," Scotty smiled at the tenderness that Kevin was showing to him, but he had to put something from his chest. Bracing himself up on one arm he looked Kevin in the eye, his face serious.

"But I don't want us to be like we were. I don't want us to be fine for a while an then dissolve back to the arguing and name-calling."

Kevin hated to lose the soft mood, but he heard the message loud and clear. "I don't want us to go back to that either, hon. No matter what it takes to keep our relationship working, name it. I just don't want to go back to that rough patch." The look in his eyes told Scotty everything.

"You, Scotty, you are the one that I want to make my life with. I've waited for so long to hear your voice again…" he raised his hand to stroke Scotty's face, "I'd die if you weren't around…"

A tear rolled from his eye and his voice became unsteady, but he kept speaking, "I hope that you're not still mad, because I love you so much and I don't want to lose you again."

Kevin felt naked, vulnerable. He was not used to letting his feelings show… but he was comforted by the warm smile spreading over his lover's face. Kevin suddenly found himself looking over Scotty's shoulder, his arms wrapped around him.

"I've waited for so long to hear you say that, babe," he whispered into Kevin's hair, "I've missed us."

Kevin nodded in agreement and cuddled in closer, kissing his boyfriend on the cheek.

Kevin's face twisted as he rested his face on Scotty's shoulder, sobbing openly, sobbing with relief.

"Oh Scotty...! It's been so long...!"

"Shhh..." Scotty started rocking back and forth with him, both of them grateful for the closeness.

They had taken the long way around, but they were together again, to stay.

* * *

Kevin looked at the head of mussed brown hair resting on his naked chest and he quietly rejoiced. He was once more with he man that he loved. For the moment, as long as he was with Scotty, he did not care about anything else. 

Planting a kiss on the forehead of his sleeping lover, Kevin silently wept for joy and held Scotty closer, not wanting to let go.

"I love you," he murmured into Scotty's dark hair. At this, Scotty nestled in closer.

"I don't care what will come," Kevin thought, tightening the embrace, "As long as he's in my life and we can make up, I'm happy."

He drifted off into a placid sleep, not caring what would come next.


End file.
